Drops in a Puddle

January 21, 2013

"30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  Prompt for January 21, 2013: Convince me why you appreciate either preparing or eating a home-cooked meal. Describe the preparation or the consumption of a homemade food you enjoy.
Who doesn't prefer a home-cooked meal? Eating out gets old fast, and I very much prefer a home-cooked meal over fast food.

While there is a variety of home-cooked meals I enjoy, My favorite is chicken and dumplings (I mentioned this earlier in a post for "Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum" . It instantly transports me to my childhood when I didn't have a worry in the world. It was my favorite meal growing up, and my mom would always cook it for me on special occasions.

I have tried unsuccessfully to cook the meal myself. Even if I follow my mom's recipe to the letter, it's always a disaster. Therefore, I always look forward to visiting my parents and having this wonderful meal!

"Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum"  January 21, 2013: Name something you no longer worry about.
There are a lot of things I no longer worry about. I used to be a compulsive worrier, and I've learned to control it over the years. I would have to say that the main thing I no longer worry about, though, is my health.

I used to be somewhat of a hypochondriac. If I felt the least bit sick, I would convince myself that something was horribly wrong. Then, in January, 2011, I really did get sick. I would suddenly be overcome by dizziness, and my lips and right arm would tingle and go numb. I finally went to the doctor, and after informing me that I could be suffering from leukemia or multiple sclerosis, he finally discovered that I was suffering from a condition called "essential thrombocytosis", a genetic blood condition that causes my platelet count to skyrocket. High normal blood platelet count is 450,000. When I went to the hospital, mine was 1.6 million. Because of that, I had had several mini-strokes.

I finally recovered from the mini-strokes, which wasn't easy while trying to get through my first semester of law school. I came to the University of Dayton School of Law which allows you to finish in 2 years instead of 3 by going 6 consecutive semesters with no time off. I started in May, 2011, less than 4 months after getting out of the hospital.

My condition is controlled my medication now - one of the pills I have to take is referred to as a chemo pill - and I often forget that there's even anything wrong. The experience really made me put things into perspective and be thankful for my health instead of worrying about what "could" happen!